Spireites Crush Colchester United.

Chesterfield cruised to a 6-0 victory against Colchester United at the Proact Stadium on Tuesday night, which acts as the largest ever victory at the Proact Stadium since the club moved from Saltergate in 2010. Both Gary Roberts and Sam Clucas grabbed a brace each, along with Dan Gardner and Jimmy Ryan who individually got their names on the scoresheet to cap a fantastic evening in Derbyshire.

Paul Cook made one alteration from Saturday’s draw against Barnsley, as Gardner took the place of Gboly Ariyibi for this particular encounter.

With just six minutes on the clock, the Spireites took the lead as Drew Talbot’s cross made its way towards Roberts who volleyed straight into the back of the net with force from around eight yards. Only ten minutes had passed before the advantage was doubled, as Clucas met Gardner’s low pass and fired into the top right-hand corner of the net from just inside the area.

One minute later, Clucas doubled his own personal tally and netted his side’s third through a magnificent chip over a stranded Chris Lewington in a one-on-one situation. Looking for a route back into this contest, Chris Porter attempted to latch onto a lofted through-ball but Sam Hird reacted quickest to clear any remote signs of danger.

Aiming to extend the lead further, Roberts attempted a through-ball towards Clucas only for Bongani Khumalo to intercept at the perfect moment in order to halt the attack. On the stroke of half-time, Porter went through on goal and failed at the last hurdle with a shot straight in the direction of a resolute Tommy Lee who saved with ease.

After the break, Gardner by-passed Lewington with a shot only for Tom Eastman to clear the ball off the line and away to safety. With 58 minutes on the clock, the Spireites grabbed their fourth of the evening courtesy of Gardner’s strike from range towards Lewington who punched the ball mistakenly into his own net.

Two minutes later, Ryan extended the lead further with a low finish over a helpless Lewington who hesitated before wrongly committing to face the midfielder near the edge of his own area. An individual run from Jay O’Shea culminated in a shot that bounced low and wide of the post, as the Spireites searched for even more goals in this contest.

Just seven minutes remained when Roberts went to ground under a challenge inside the area, with only moments passing before the winger stepped up and fired past Lewington into the top left-hand corner of the net from the penalty spot. For the full two minutes of additional time, Cook’s men continued to push until the final whistle and sealed the biggest ever margin of victory at the Proact Stadium.